I won’t be buying Bolton’s book
I am not, and never have been, a fan of John Bolton.
Didn’t like him when he was this administration’s national security advisor, didn’t like him when he was the “nuke ‘em ‘til they glow” ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush and one of the weasels, as they were known, of the president’s inner circle who, led by puppet master Dick Cheney, manipulated the nation into an unjustified war. In fact over the years, Bolton has not made many friends, either inside or outside of The Beltway.
I was all geared up for a while, anticipating the release of Bolton’s book about his time in this administration, a tell-all on his close interactions with the president and others in the circle of power. But, looking back at what was and what should have been, now has soured me on the book. Bolton’s decision to put his desire for more money ahead of the good of the nation left me cold.
Bolton’s book, according to what I have read and heard, is a blockbuster, with the inside stuff only a few were privileged to share, information that could have very well made a huge difference during the House impeachment proceedings.
Bolton ducked the House subpoena but offered to testify before the Senate, which, with its heavy Republican sway would have lobbed him softball after softball.
But, he didn’t.
He had a $2 million advance from publisher Simon & Schuster in his pocket and a guaranteed best-seller churning on the presses. Why would he risk further profits by dropping the most salient points of his book to the public during the impeachment process?
Of course, a lot of that is being revealed now as Bolton begins his publicity tour, but not as much as would have been revealed if he had sat in chambers with the House committee, which would have probably spilled the beans.
So much for the supposed patriotism of this savage, trigger-happy hawk.
At first, Bolton seemed a good fit for this authoritarian White House, a guy with strong-man ideology, a guy who would shoot first and ask questions later regardless of the cost in lives and treasure.
Look, I have nothing against a guy trying to make a buck. But, I do find it hypocritical to be the convenient patriot who would put those 30 pieces of silver ahead of the good of the nation.
The White House, of course, went apoplectic at the prospect of the book and drug its feet during the compulsory security review until Bolton finally gave his publisher the green light. The administration argued that the book compromised national security. It then argued that the book was nothing more than a succession of lies. When that also failed, it filed an injunction to stop publication.
By then, however, review copies had been distributed to the media, and book stores had received their initial copies.
It would now be difficult, probably impossible, as the judge who handed down the ruling said, to stuff that genie back into the bottle.
Bolton’s team argued that the requested injunction was an abridgment of Bolton’s First Amendment rights, that it would be difficult to get a judge to grant a prior-restraint order because of the Supreme Court ruling in 1971 that ruled that the Nixon administration could not halt publication of “The Pentagon Papers.”
And, let’s not be mistaken here. The administration’s opposition to the publication of this book is more about dinging the president’s chances of reelection than anything else.
Attorneys for Simon & Schuster argued that point, saying the request for an injunction
was nothing more than a “frivolous, politically motivated exercise in futility.”
The latest response from the White House is another wave of intimidation tactics threatening to jail reporters who use any of the material from the book in their reporting.
That should be no surprise to Bolton, who claims that during a meeting in 2019 the president suggested that more journalists should be arrested and jailed to force them to reveal their sources.
According to the book, the president said “these people should be executed…they are scumbags.”
If he thinks modern-day reporters are scumbags, I can only wonder how he would react if Carl Bernstein and Sam Donaldson were still on the beat.
The real problem here is not what is between the covers of Bolton’s book, the danger is in what comes next.
It’s not rare for the president to be at odds with members of the press. I know of no president who didn’t go through a fit of anger over coverage. It has always been and will always be a contentious relationship and that is how it should be. It is not the media’s job to pump up the fluff put out by the president’s spinmeisters, it is to seek the truth and act in behalf of public interest. It is a reporter’s duty to act as a watchdog and take a nip out of the president’s backside when deserved. It’s called reporting without fear or favor, a tenet of the news business that the good ones follow. The president is not obliged to like or agree with coverage, but he is required, by the First Amendment, to uphold the media’s freedom to report without interference or influence and certainly without intimidation.
I’m not too worried about Bolton in that department. He’s been around a long time, he’s a political survivor and that is no small accomplishment.
I can pretty much guarantee that a large chunk of the money Bolton will receive from his book will be spent on lawyer fees. Those guys always smell blood in the water and get their share.
But, not a dime will have come from me.
I will read the reviews, I will watch the interviews, and I will nod in agreement whenever he repeats the mantra of his publicity tour that the president “is not fit for office.”
But, I won’t buy the book.
Bolton could have made a difference when it really mattered, and he didn’t.
He won’t get a dime from me.
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